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Originally Posted by JohnP
They are playing “My country tis of thee” which was the U.S. national anthem until the Second World War when it changed to the “Star spangled banner”. Many people believe it should be re-instated as the country’s national anthem because the star spangled banner requires such a large vocal range that only accomplished singers can sing it.
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Star Spangled Banner was made the national anthem in 1931. I'm not sure why, but I think it was because the navy and army were already using it when they ran up the flag for ceremonies. They liked it because of it was about the military defending the country.
It was originally a poem by Francis Scott Key. In 1814, he spent a night on a British ship which was part of the fleet shelling Fort McHenry, outside of Baltimore. The shelling and siege of the fort was so intense that night that when the morning came, Key was surprised and delighted to see the Stars and Stripes still flying above the fort. Then he wrote a poem, "The Defense of Fort McHenry," which was later set to the music of a popular old song, and became the "Star-Spangled Banner" later.
I really like it much better than "My Country 'Tis of Thee"(no offense to the Brit BMs, we do hope your Queen is saved, as well). My country tis of thee is awfully slow, boring, and so maudlin that it is almost pure vanilla. Star-Spangled Banner is a much more stirring tune, and the fact that it has such a wide vocal range and requires a good vocalist to sing it, is part of the reason that it is more stirring. You are always in suspense to see if they can hit the high note just before the end, and if they are really great, then they can do an octave leap when they hit the final note, as well.
It is always a fun start at the ball games to either cheer a great singer who demonstrates his/her prowess with a stunning rendition, or to laugh at the ones who someone thought were good enough to let them sing it, but who fall flat on their faces when their lack of range is exposed(which often happens), and you would be surprised at just how many(very many) professional singers don't have adequate range to really belt out that tune.
There've been some great moments in sports that happened even before the first ball was thrown. Who could ever forget Roseanne Barr's performance?
A national controversy over that one, and, in retrospect, the start of the end of a very highly successful career. I don't think she ever quite recovered from the fallout, and it was all downhill for her afterwards!
